Break a Leg Kid Kageyama Reiji's Story
by orangesorbetto
Summary: We all know Kageyama Reiji as the commander of Teikoku, the embodiment of evil, but what brought him there? This story explores the twisted dynamics of his home life, school life, work life, and his soccer life, and how he got wrapped up in the spiral of evil deeds. And it starts right at the beginning of it all. No one is born bad.
1. Too Much Soccer Politics

Kageyama Reiji had always loved to watch his father play soccer. As a young kid, he spent countless hours practicing and analyzing the way Kageyama Tougo played soccer, which led him to be a skilled player himself. While his father readied for the Japanese National Team, which he earned a spot on, Reiji readied himself for the middle school soccer club. He already knew he was going to attend Raimon Junior High School, when his father was asked to join the national team. Reiji was very proud that the man, who was his role model, would be a representative for his country.

However, what he hadn't accounted for was Kageyama Tougo's soccer becoming something else entirely. While joining the national team had put a lot of pressure on the man, it had started to eat away at him. A darkness shrouded his soccer which made all his once magical and perfect plays, into something unrecognizable. It soon became clear, before the World Cup had begun, that Kageyama Tougo had no place on the Japanese soccer team, and it eventually led to his firing, and his slot to be filled by someone else.

Watching this situation happen broke Reiji's heart, but he had to remain strong. He knew his father was doing his best, even if it had taken a mental toll on him. The man's mental health started to deteriorate that year, and even though it was gradual, young Reiji could tell.

"Endou Daisuke." Tougo had muttered as he dragged himself out of bed before noon that day. He had had a hard time waking up early after his recent unemployment. He held up the newspaper at his wife who did what she could to remain positive in the situation. "They replaced me with Endou Daisuke. He's so young and inexperienced. There's no way he'll do well on the team."

Marie Kageyama was a beautiful woman. Tall, blonde, and fashionable, she was from Italy originally and met Tougo when he was playing abroad. They quickly hit it off and got married, having her whole life moved to Japan. She wasn't regretful for it, but it posed some challenges. Her Japanese was good as she had time to perfect it but being foreign could be a little rocky of a situation.

"Well, even still, we should hope for the best for him." Ever the optimist, Marie smiled at her husband and poured him a cup of tea. "He seems like a nice young man. Didn't we meet him at that banquet not too long ago?"

"Young is right." Tougo said bitterly as he sipped his tea. "And yes, we did. You spoke Italian with him. But I suppose you're right, I should hope for the best…"

Reiji had heard this conversation and remembered the name Endou Daisuke. The man who kicked his father off the national team. Even if that wasn't exactly as the situation happened, he could feel the vengeful feeling in his father's voice.

..

Days and days passed and there was still no word about what would happen after the World Cup. Tougo hadn't received work, and the finances were already tight. While they were surviving, they hadn't planned for what would happen next.

By this time Reiji had started Junior High but had waited on joining the soccer club. He was anxious about the news of his father's career spreading. He wasn't sure what others would say. He let a few months drag on by, thinking it would be fine. He didn't need to join yet.

"Oh Reiji, you're home!" Marie had a habit of speaking in Italian to her son, which was how she greeted him as she ushered him into the sitting room. She sat him down in front of herself and Tougo, letting her language switch back to Japanese. "I have some important news to tell you."

Reiji didn't know what to expect when he just came back from school, but he wasn't one to speak out of turn. He was usually a cheerful kid, but the recent circumstances started to change that. "Oh, okay…?" He muttered like a question. He looked over at his father who seemed to look uneasy. What was going on?

Marie, however, had a smile on her face. "Well, I went to the doctor, and we just found out today, that you're going to be a big brother!"

Reiji stopped a moment. "Huh?"

"I'm pregnant." She placed a hand on her stomach with a wider smile. "It came as a shock, what with the timing and all, but your father and I are excited."

As the idea of being a brother entered in Reiji's mind, he found himself worried. He wanted to be as happy and cheerful as his mother was, but the thought that his father was out of work, and still hadn't had a job lined him made him anxious. Would they be okay?

Tougo sat up and placed a hand on his wife's shoulder. He let out a tired smile, the kind that Reiji could immediately see how worried he was as well. "You're going to have to help out a lot around here, but you'll make a great brother."

Marie smiled wider. Forever the optimist, she leaned into her husband's touch happily. "We'll get through this. You'll get recruited in no time."

Tougo clearly had started losing hope at this but he nodded at his wife anyways. It was hard to stay mad at a baby, and while he initially took the news nervously, he was starting to feel better about it.

However, Reiji had reservations about it but even still, he looked at his mother's smile and couldn't help but smile back. She was always so positive about any situation. It was naïve of her, even a young boy like him knew that, but he still admired her for it. "Great." He finally managed to say. He never really wanted to be a brother, but now was not the time to complain. He knew that well.

Marie gave a giggle and kissed her son on the head. "I'll go make a celebratory cake then." She stood up and sauntered to the kitchen like the housewife she was.

Reiji looked over at his father letting his smile fade when he saw his fathers had. "Is it going to be okay?" He muttered quietly.

Tougo sighed and gave a shrug. "It'll have to be." He said and grabbed his glass from the table in front of him. He sipped his third alcoholic drink since he'd been awake.

..

Weeks go by and Kageyama Tougo had been lucky to have work again. However, he was dropped from one team for under performance, just to be let onto another. In this time, his wife's stomach got rounder, and his son finally decided to join the soccer club at his junior high school. The year was almost over, but he knew he should anyways.

Reiji had already had a legacy when he joined the Raimon soccer club which was why he had reservations about joining. The legacy hadn't aged well as he joined. Given the scandal of why Kageyama Tougo had been dropped from the Japanese National Team, the younger already expected weird looks from his peers.

That didn't stop him from enjoying his soccer. During their first few practices, it was just warmups and practice matches, but Reiji never backed down. Sure, the team was small at the time, but he decided he would make them strong if they had too.

At this point, they didn't have a permanent coach either, so the Raimon Soccer Club held a lot of down time for the players to get to know each other.

"Hey Kageyama—is it true your father is Kageyama Tougo?"

Reiji had been stretching at the end of their practice to see their goalkeeper looking over at him. Hibiki Seigou was loud and a bit of a troublemaker, at least that's what he had gathered so far. All the players of Raimon seemed to like him though.

"Yeah." He said nonchalantly with a shrug.

Hibiki gave a surprised noise and looked back at the group of players he was originally talking with. He grinned at the thought. "We have a celebrity on our team."

Reiji gave a chuckle just to show he was listening, but he didn't know how to approach such a situation. No one had ever called himself, or his father a celebrity before. He often forgot how well known his father actually was.

"Too bad he was dropped from the national team though." One of the players shook his head in pity. "He was a damn good forward. He didn't deserve that."

Being in a group of people who shared his opinion on his father made Reiji smile a bit more. The only people he had a chance to talk about it with were his own parents, so it was nice to have some relatively normal ears. "Yeah, but he's joined a team now." Reiji said back. "The national team was just too much soccer politics." It was something he heard his father say once.

The other players thought him wise to say it and they nodded.

Hibiki gave a bit of a boisterous laugh. "I heard a rumor he was drinking too much and that's why they kicked him off." He raised an eyebrow at the other teammate.

Reiji was initially caught off guard by the statement, but when he realized the goalkeeper just wanted to get a rise out of him, he shook his head. "That's not true." At least he hoped it wasn't true. They never really went over the specifics at home.

Hibiki laughed again. "Alright." He gave a wave of his hand and then casually adjusted the bandana on his head. He began walking off without a care.

Reiji concluded that he didn't like Hibiki.


	2. The New Coach

By the time he got home his mother greeted him and his father was nodding off in the living room, with a glass half empty in his hand.

"Welcome home." Marie greeted to him in Italian. She let that be their language for the moment. "How was soccer practice? Did you have fun? Make any friends?"

Reiji gave a pause, and then a shrug. He was never good at making friends. "It was good. We just played some practice matches against each other. Nothing special." He spoke in Italian back to her, as she expected him too.

"That's good. Practice is important. Come help me get the table ready for dinner." She looked over at her husband and gave a huff. "He fell asleep again?"

Remembering what Hibiki had said so crassly, Reiji felt a pang in his heart. Had he been drinking a lot? He never noticed before…

..

"Kageyama-!"

Reiji was lucky he had fast reflexes because as soon as he heard his name a soccer ball was headed in his direction. He jumped up and stopped the ball with his foot, only to look back at the source that it came from.

"My bad." Hibiki grinned and placed a hand behind his head. "Good thing you're so fast, eh?"

Reiji let out a sigh of a breath and kicked it back to him, not bothering to dignify that with a response. He was so careless.

..

That night when Reiji got back home, he didn't get a response from his parents. This was unusual as his mother would usually greet him, and his father would either be sleeping or preoccupied at work.

He used his strength to make light footsteps towards the kitchen where he heard muffled noises. Laughing perhaps?

After he snuck his way to the kitchen, he saw his mother and his father in a happy embrace, holding each other in a kiss. They weren't particularly an affectionate couple, so seeing them so happy was confusing. He couldn't help but feel like he was intruding and took a step back. Perhaps he could sneak out and pretend to walk in louder.

However, that wasn't necessary, as they pulled away from each other, Marie noticed her son out of the corner of her eye. "Reiji!" She smiled as she let their embrace loosen a bit. "When did you get home?" She giggled, her face a little pink from embarrassment.

"Just now." He said to her and looked at the floor.

"Oh well, your father and I were just thinking of baby names." She smiled at her son.

"I think we should go with Hideaki if it's a boy." Tougo smiled at her wife and then looked back at his son as well. "What do you think, Reiji?"

It was the first time his father had actively asked him a question in a while. He had been so busy at work he hardly had time to see him, so at least it made him smile to hear it. "I like it." Reiji agreed, knowing that was the best way to be on both of their good sides. Through all the stress he had become somewhat of a pushover for his parents, as that's what they needed of him. He didn't have a lot of room to express his opinions on things.

"Well, come on, let's have dinner, then." Marie smiled at her husband and kissed his cheek. "No more distractions."

"We'll help you set the table." Tougo chuckled and gestured for his son to come help. That was the first time they felt like a happy family in a while.

..

"Did you guys hear? We're getting our coach today!" Hibiki said in the locker rooms, as he made sure to be as loud as possible. There were only twelve people in the room, and everyone could hear him just fine, and yet he was still loud.

While everyone else really liked Hibiki, there was something about him Reiji couldn't stand. Because of this, he never tried to be close to him.

"I wonder who it will be." Another member mentioned as murmurs creeped throughout the locker room.

"I hear it's someone famous!" Another member mentioned.

Immediately everyone looked at Reiji because their father was the only famous person they knew. Once the striker realized everyone was staring at him, he felt his face flush a little. "I don't know anything about it!" He finally said and shook his head. "My father has been busy playing for Tokyo."

Everyone seemed to look at each other and then went back to dressing for practice. When they made their way to the club room, a man in an orange headband greeted them as they entered.

He looked familiar to Reiji, with that silly orange headband but he couldn't place a name to the face. How had he known the man? He was supposedly famous, right? Did others know him?

"Good afternoon everyone!" The man greeted with a big grin on his face. "I'm Endou Daisuke. I'm your new coach!"

Instantly, Reiji knew that name. The name of the man who kicked his father off the soccer team. He had been in a good mood previously but after hearing this, he felt his stomach drop. How could he face his father and tell him the man who was coaching him was the same man who cost him his job?

Everyone else had an easy time figuring out who he was by his name. There were excited stares and murmurs across the club room, except from Reiji. He was too conflicted to be excited.

"Kageyama Reiji?" Daisuke looked over at the young player and smiled wide. "My, have you grown! You're starting to look just like your father!"

Not realizing he had met the man before, Reiji just gave a polite nod.

"You know him?" Hibiki asked the coach incredulously.

Daisuke gave a laugh. "I sure do." He said happily. "I used to play soccer with Kageyama Tougo a lot. His dad's an excellent player, did you all know that?"

Excitedly, the other members looked to Reiji who now was turning a bright pink color. As the other players realized everything that he had said was now also being said by a famous soccer player, they were all very interested in Reiji's life.

"So, your dad really is Kageyama Tougo!"

"Wow, that must be so amazing! You get the meet a bunch of famous players!"

"What's he like?"

Being overwhelmed by questions, Reiji just blushed and looked up at their new coach. He didn't mean to, but his face was somewhat a plead for help.

"Hey, come on, kids." Daisuke laughed. "Leave Kageyama alone, we got practice to do, if we're going to make it to the football frontier."

The crowd suddenly looked up at their new coach.

"The football frontier?" Hibiki shook his head in disbelief. "You think we can?"

Daisuke smiled. "Well, I think so. Let's go practice and see."

..

During cool down at the end of practice, Hibiki stood up and walked over to Reiji with a smile on his face. "I can't believe your dad really is Kageyama Tougo."

Reiji didn't mean to be nonresponsive to his teammate, but he didn't like him. He already decided that in his head. "Well, he is." He said simply.

"You know, no one really believed you when you said that."

Reiji looked over at him again, wondering what he was playing at. "That's dumb." He decided he was done stretching and started walking to the bench now.

Hibiki followed him. "I mean, you can't blame us. You can't say your fathers a famous soccer player and have everyone believe you without even seeing the guy. But I guess Coach Endou proved it!"

The striker looked at him incredulously again and then looked away. He didn't even know what to say to that. He didn't like the idea that he was perceived as a liar. He was socially awkward, he knew that, but he never really was a liar.

"Hey, you should hang out with me and some of the guys!" Hibiki grinned at his own suggestion. "We're gonna go get some food."

Reiji hadn't ever been invited out before with anyone, but this wasn't going to be the first time. He could make his own friends and he didn't want Hibiki to be one of them. "That's alright." He said simply. "My mom is making dinner and wants me home."

"Ah, Marie." Daisuke cut in as he grabbed his notebook from the bench. "It's been a while since I've seen her. How is she?"

Reiji was definitely caught off guard by the question, but again he shrugged nonchalantly. "She's good." For lack of a better way to explain that she was stressed and pregnant, that's what he gave.

"Good, good. I'll have to drop by and say hi one of these days."

Reiji nodded again and then headed off. The sooner he left, the sooner he could get away from this awkward situation.


	3. Secret Plan

When he got home, his father hadn't come back, and his mother was finishing up dinner. Again, speaking to her son in her native tongue she greeted him. "Hello, Reiji. How was school?"

"Okay." He shrugged again.

"Make any friends?"

Reiji shrugged. "I guess." It was hard to say otherwise. He made teammates but he assumed that was good enough.

She gave him a look. "Love, you have to make friends." She said sympathetically. "Friends are the ones who help you out through the hard times. They're good to have. I wish I had friends here, but instead I only have friends back in Italy who I get to write to sometimes."

She didn't mean to live vicariously through her child, but she was. She wanted what was best for her son, of course, but she wanted him to have fun and be happy while she was busy at home caring for the house and preparing for a new baby.

Reiji could tell this was the way she felt. He could empathize with her so easily, even though she never said any of her problems. He could just tell. So, he decided he'd ease up her issues some more.

"I'm going to go out with some of the guys from the soccer team sometime." He said simply. "They were all excited when they heard dad was on the national team, so I guess they want to know more about that."

Marie's smile faded a bit for a second, but then she picked it back up again. "Mm, well, that's interesting." She said simply and turned back to her cooking. "I wonder where that man is now. He must still be training."

After a pause the boy went on. "We got a new coach today."

"Oh, did you?"

"Yeah, Endou Daisuke."

Marie looked over interested. She clearly didn't have the same bad blood between the man as her husband did. "Wow! I wonder why he's teaching middle school now and not playing?"

Reiji just shrugged.

"I wonder how your father will take that news."

Little did either of them know, he wouldn't be home until late, because he and some other soccer players ended up at the bar. When he got home, he was too drunk to function, so he ended up falling asleep right away.

Reiji decided that there might have been somewhat of a drinking problem there. But that couldn't have been why he got fired from the team, right? He really hoped Hibiki wasn't right.

..

Weeks had gone by since Kageyama Tougo had heard the news. He was clearly bitter, and his mood was spiraling down. He drank more during the day, and when he didn't work, he had a hard time waking up. A few times he had to call out to practice because he couldn't get out of bed.

Reiji blamed himself on telling his father about his coach, but in reality, he knew it was probably the stress of the new baby. He detested this new baby that wasn't even born yet, but he wouldn't ever say that.

Soccer training hadn't been easy either. Reiji still hadn't really made any friends, but he was getting along better with those he worked with. Well, all except for Hibiki.

Their relationship had become more tumultuous. No one was sure if it was Reiji's cold demeanor or something else that rubbed Hibiki the wrong way, but he was beginning to see it as a threat.

"Watch where you're going." Hibiki muttered before he rammed himself into Reiji to get him to move out of the way.

The smaller of the two tripped over his own feet and fell into the grass next to the pitch. Hibiki laughed when it happened.

"Hibiki!" Daisuke scolded him from afar and walked over.

The goalkeeper looked at his coach as he watched and stood up straight. He could bully Kageyama but whenever he got in trouble with Daisuke, he cowered.

"Apologize to Kageyama, right now." Coach Endou commanded sternly.

Hibiki looked down a second and then looked at Reiji, who was still on the floor now. "Sorry."

"Now help him up."

Hibiki reluctantly placed his hand out to Reiji for him to take. The striker looked at it a moment and held his own hand out, only to slap the others away and stand up himself.

"Why would I take help from a nobody like you?" His voice spat poison into the goalkeeper.

"Kageyama-!" Daisuke was fed up. This was the at least the fifth time this week they had had an altercation and it was only Thursday. It was time for him to bring out the big plan he had been keeping a secret.

When he gathered everyone in the club room, he laid the plan on them.

"We have been having a lot of problems recently and our team isn't bonding." He said and specifically looked across the room at their striker and then their goalkeeper, who was now their captain. "And it's not very good of us. If we can't get along in practice, how are we going to get along at the pitch, mm?"

Reiji looked at the floor and scowled. He hated that he knew he was talking about him.

Hibiki just looked up interested. He rather liked most of Daisuke's plans, so he figured it must be good.

"So, we are going to have a sleepover." Daisuke smiled.

Confused noises came around the crowd of teenagers before he carried on.

"Tomorrow night, you are all going to come back to school. Bring some pillows and blankets, and a change of pajamas. We're all going to do some trust exercises, and then sleep overnight in the gym."

"Whoa, how fun!" Hibiki's eyes lit up, and the other members of got excited as well.

Kageyama didn't like where this was going, so the last thing he wanted was to be apart of this.

..

Reiji walked into his house after practice ready to tell his parents of the impromptu plans. When he made it inside, he immediately wanted to walk back out.

"How are we going to pay for a baby, and the rest of these bills?"

"I don't know Marie! For the last time, I don't know!"

"Well, you can't just stay at home and sleep and drink all day! I can't take care of a house and two kids by myself!"

"I know! Stop complaining about it!"

"Complaining?!"

The tense air in the house stopped Reiji in his tracks. Something must have happened, but he was too afraid to ask what. Even still the anxiety welled up in his chest as he walked further into the house. In the dining area, his parents had spotted him and immediately stopped fighting.

Marie didn't have her usual smile on her face, and she quickly snatched the newspaper from off the dining table. "Oh, love, you're home." She said quietly in Italian walking over to him and placing a kiss on his forehead. "How long have you been home?"

"I just got here…" Reiji instinctively spoke back to his mother in her native language. "What's going on?"

"Nothing." Tougo said in Japanese to his family. "Don't worry. It's fine." He reached over to the cabinet and refilled his glass afterwards.

Reiji watched his parents in their strained air about them and nodded in response finally. He knew they wouldn't tell him right now. They always shielded him from problems, but he always found a way to get the information he wanted.

However, he didn't want to pry right now. "Coach Endou says we have to go to school tomorrow after school and sleepover in the gym. He says it's a bonding exercise." He said it quickly, for the faster he explained the faster he could go to his room.

"Oh, that sounds like fun." Marie's voice was a little peppier as she reached for the supplies to make dinner.

"Ugh, that man." Tougo shook his head looking back at his son. "I don't want you hanging around him too much. He's young and inexperienced, and he'll just lead you down a path of defeat. He's an idiot."

Reiji wasn't sure if he agreed with that statement, but if his father said it, it just be true. He did know him better than he did, at least he figured he did.

"You shouldn't speak ill of our son's coach." His mother said with a bit of irritation in her voice.

"Why does he think sleeping over at school is going to help? He's just wasting our kid's time. He should be teaching him how to play soccer."

Reiji decided he'd clarify. "He said it's a bonding exercise." He repeated.

"Bonding exercise? Hell." His father scowled more. "That man useless."

"Tougo, that's not fair—"

"I didn't ask for your opinion!"

Marie jumped at his raising of his voice again and she looked at her son.

Tougo shook his head and looked at him as well. "Go to your room." His words were sharp and short.

Reiji didn't argue and did as he was told. As he wondered whether dinner would get done today between the arguments, he sat in his bed. With all the tension and fighting in the house, maybe having a night away from home would be better.


End file.
